Chapter 4

I had stayed up all night last night writing out the letter to Dad.

"If I can place in the top 50 on this exam, I hope that Dad will reinstall the lock on my door."

But now, the paper was already soaked in my blood, the writing on it long since blurred. I was never going to see the day when Dad kept his promise to me.

After lunch, Dad had to rush back to the school office to begin grading the exam papers. Afternoons were reserved for the school teachers to grade their papers intensively, and the timeframe was very short and tight.

Eventually, only the sound of red ink pens scratching against the paper surface could be heard in the grading room.

Dad was responsible for grading the science papers. He graded each paper quickly until he finally came to a completely blank answer sheet. The name written on the paper was squiggly and lopsided.

"Zach Davies."

I had only managed to stay awake enough to write down my name during the paper earlier before losing consciousness altogether and falling to the ground in a dead faint.

Dad stared at the glaringly blank answer sheet and felt his eyelid twitching in anger.

"He's not just lazy. He even knows how to provoke me by daring to turn in a completely blank exam paper now," he gritted out between his teeth, nearly snapping the red pen in his hand in two.

"Mr. Davies? What's the matter? Why are you so angry?" the teacher in charge of grading the math paper suddenly asked, leaning over to see what was going on.

"Oh? What's this? Which student dared to do this during the year-end exam? Isn't this blatant provocation?"

"Who else could it be but that idiotic son of mine?" Dad responded with a cold scoff, grabbing his red pen once again and drawing a massive "X" in the center that filled the entire sheet with so much force that it tore through the paper.

"This brat is getting more and more outrageous. Falling asleep in class is one thing, but daring to slack off like this on the final exam? He's just looking for trouble at this point," Dad said, suddenly standing up, his chair scraping loudly against the floor.

"I'm going to teach that brat a lesson right now."

He grabbed the blank exam sheet covered in the huge red "X" and stormed out of the grading room. The wind in the hallway ruffled his clothes, fanning the fire burning within his chest.

It was about 4:00 pm then, and the sun was already beginning to set. The hallway outside the abandoned classroom was dimly lit.

Dad's leather shoes clicked crisply on the cement floor as he went up to the door and kicked it harshly without even reaching for the key.

"Zach Davies! The sun's going to set, and you're still not done playing dead yet? Get your damn ass up!"

The door didn't open, and there was only dead silence from the other side of the door. Dad scoffed coldly and retrieved the keys before unlocking the door with all of his might.

The doors swung open heavily, the smell of dust and rot immediately enveloping him.

He then strode into the classroom with my blank exam sheet.

"Look at your masterpiece, Zach Davies. Aren't you just so proud of yourself right now?"

His voice suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

My body had remained in the same position it was in four hours ago without moving a single muscle.

"You're still playing dead with me?"

The last of the sun rays filtered into the classroom, illuminating the dust particles suspended in the air. I was lying on the ground in a very unnatural position that also looked a little curled-up. My fingers, locked in the painful spasm of the last moments of my life, gripped tightly at the torn exam document.

My nails had turned a terrifying bluish-purple color that dug deeply into my flesh. The blood flowing from my temple had dried up, and it had now congealed into a dark red puddle on the concrete floor.

Dad walked over and kicked my stiff feet with his leather shoe in absolute disgust.

"What kind of performance art do you think you're doing now?"

He then rolled the exam paper into a tube and slammed it hard against my shoulder. "Did you seriously think that you could continue pretending to play dead with just a bunch of red ink and get out of having to redo all your exam questions a hundred times over?"

On the ground, I didn't respond at all and just let him hit and kick me without moving.

"Zach Davies! Even my patience has a limit, you absolute brat!" he yelled, his pitch rising again as he suppressed his rage. "Get up from the floor immediately and come with me to the office to redo your paper!"

He then reached out to grab my arm. However, as soon as he touched me, he immediately froze in place.